The present invention relates to a connector structured by vertically placing a plurality of connector housings.
A conventional connector of this type is structured by vertically placing connector housings 2 and 3 having flat upper and lower walls and substantially formed in a box shape and connecting to each other (Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 5-53154).
A plurality of terminal receiving chambers in which terminals are received are formed in each of the connector housings. A front end and a rear end of each of the terminal receiving chambers are opened. The terminal is inserted into the terminal receiving chamber from the rear end. The terminal of the opposite connector is inserted from the front end of the terminal receiving chamber. An engaging hole open to the upper surface end of the connector housing is formed in the upper wall covering the terminal receiving chamber.
The terminal has a lance on a top surface to which an elasticity is applied by cutting in a rip shape and standing it. When the terminal is received in the terminal receiving chamber, the lance of the terminal is inserted into the engaging hole and becomes an engaging state, so that the terminal is prevented from coming out from the terminal receiving chamber. In this case, in the case of drawing out the terminal from the terminal receiving chamber, a removing jig is inserted into the engaging hole, the lance is pressed by the removing jig, and an engagement between a locking piece and the engaging hole is removed.
However, in the conventional structure mentioned above, a foreign material enters into the engaging hole at a time of manufacturing a wire harness, and the engagement between the lance and the engaging hole is accidentally removed, so that there is a possibility that the terminal comes out from the terminal receiving chamber. Further, in the case that the foreign material has an electrical conductivity, there is a possibility that the adjacent terminals are shorted.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a connector which can securely prevent a terminal from coming out from a terminal receiving chamber and prevent adjacent terminals from being shorted.